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While the music world mourns Roy Ayers, the Godfather of Neo-Soul and a jazz-funk pioneer who died at age 84 on March 4, the hip-hop community will always remember him as one of its brightest inspirations.
“Everybody Loves the Sunshine,” the enduring hit from Roy Ayers Ubiquity’s 1976 album of the same name, became the highlight of his legacy — and everybody loved it so much they couldn’t help but borrow a bit of its brilliance. The New York Times‘ obituary for Ayers reported that “Everybody Loves the Sunshine” has been sampled nearly 200 times.
“Well, I have more sampled hits than anybody,” he said in a 2004 interview with Wax Poetics. “I might not have more samples than James Brown, but I’ve had more sampled hits. Oh, man, and there’s a few I don’t know about.”
Mary J. Blige — who sampled “Everybody Loves the Sunshine” for “My Life” from her 1994 album of the same name, which was later interpolated on “MJB Da MVP” featuring 50 Cent, on her 2005 LP The Breakthrough — opened up about the song’s indelible impact on her in her 2021 documentary My Life. “I don’t know what’s in that record, but it was something in it that just cracked open everything in me. That was the first music as a child that stuck with me because it made me forget that we lived where we lived,” Blige said in the film. “‘My life in the sunshine’ was something I wanted.” The Queen of Hip-Hop Soul also heavily sampled Ayers’ 1976 track “Searching” on her 1997 album Share My World.
Like Blige, Dr. Dre, TLC, Juvenile and Joe Budden also have songs titled “My Life,” while Scarface and Naughty by Nature have songs called “Sunshine.” Thirty years after he sampled “Everybody Loves the Sunshine” on “Book of Life” from his 1994 album Resurrection, Common dug back in the crates and dusted off the sample for the Grammy-nominated song “When the Sun Shines,” featuring Posdnuos, from his and Pete Rock‘s 2024 Grammy-nominated joint LP The Auditorium Vol. 1.
Outside of being sampled and interpolated by hip-hop heavyweights, Ayers also collaborated with Tyler, the Creator on “Find Your Wings,” also featuring Syd and Kali Uchis, from Tyler’s 2015 album Cherry Bomb; Erykah Badu on “Cleva” from her 2000 LP Mama’s Gun; The Roots on “Proceed II” from the deluxe version of the band’s 2005 album Do You Want More?!!!??!; and Talib Kweli on “In the Mood,” also featuring Ye (formerly known as Kanye West), from his 2007 album Eardrum as well as on “Something Special” from Kweli and Madlib‘s 2024 joint LP Liberation 2.
“Roy Ayers called me like ‘tyler, hey man, those changes are amazing, your chord selection is just beautiful my man’ OMG MY HEART MELTED,” Tyler tweeted in 2015. The Chromakopia rapper also sampled Ayers’ 1982 track “Ooh” on “Pothole,” featuring Jaden Smith, from his 2017 album Flower Boy. Later that same year, Ayers performed at his Camp Flog Gnaw festival. Questlove hailed him as “the cat who birthed us all in the ‘vibes only’ movement. The Soundtrack that ALL the incense you ever burned was truly made for. Thank You Roy Edward Ayers Jr for EVERYTHING you gave us. taught us. showed us. soothed us.”
Billboard rounded up 21 hip-hop and R&B songs that have sampled and interpolated Roy Ayers Ubiquity’s “Everybody Loves the Sunshine,” in order from newest to oldest.
Common & Pete Rock feat. Posdnuos, “When the Sun Shines Again”
50 Cent is up to his trolling ways again, and he’s still relishing being somewhat responsible for the recent spat between Cam’ron and Jim Jones. The Queens rapper and filmmaker posted and deleted an AI-created video on Instagram of Jim Jones, Cam’ron, and Floyd Mayweather playing characters in a scene from Rocky III. Jones, as […]
Billy McFarland’s Fyre Fest 2 is slated to take place on Isla Mujeres in Mexico from May 30 to June 2, and one artist has announced his appearance on the bill.
Former NFL star Antonio “AB” Brown claimed in an interview with TMZ Sports on Thursday (March 6) that he’s been booked for a performance on May 30.
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“Ayo, this is AB and I’ll be performing at Fyre Fest part 2 in Mexico on May 30. Be there or be square,” AB said while rocking an army helmet. “Make sure you put that sh– on.”
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Isla Mujeres is located in the state of Quintana Roo and is about a half-hour ferry ride from Cancun. Various ticket packages are available, ranging from $1,400 to $25,000, and there’s even a $1 million package for eight people that has access to luxury villas, a private marina and a private jet.
AB is the first confirmed artist for Fyre Fest 2. The festival has yet to release a lineup of talent. Festival organizers reportedly told TMZ that they have booked several artists.
Billboard reached out to two of the biggest booking agencies for music festivals in February, and neither heard from reps for Fyre Fest 2.
Antonio Brown played his last game in the NFL on Jan. 2, 2022, when he famously left the field with no shirt on mid-game and never took another snap on the gridiron.
AB turned to rapping and a friendship with Ye (formerly Kanye West), who executive-produced his Paradigm project, which arrived in 2022 with standouts like “Put That Sh– On” and features from DaBaby, Young Thug, French Montana, Fivio Foreign and Keyshia Cole. He performed at Rolling Loud California in 2023.
The original Fyre Fest took place in April 2017 and is remembered as one of the most disastrous festivals in music history.
Convicted fraudster Billy McFarland is getting a second chance and he’s promising this edition won’t be a repeat of the first. McFarland was sentenced to six years in 2018 after admitting to defrauding investors of millions of dollars. He was released to a halfway house in 2022.
Comedian Hannah Berner is apologizing to Megan Thee Stallion after her interview with the Grammy-winning rapper on the Vanity Fair Oscar party red carpet over the weekend drew backlash from fans. The part of Berner’s interview drawing ire is when she said she listens to Meg’s music “when I want to fight someone.” Megan immediately […]
Elton John adds his record-extending 43rd top 10 on Billboard’s Adult Contemporary chart, and Brandi Carlile earns her first, as their duet “Who Believes in Angels?” ascends a spot to No. 10 on the survey dated March 15. The song adds Greatest Gainer honors, thanks to its 22% surge in plays Feb. 28-March 6. (The […]
Little Monsters everywhere have spent all day Friday (March 7) rejoicing, after Lady Gaga unveiled her long-awaited new album Mayhem. One of those fans, it turns out, is Gaga’s fellow pop star Bebe Rexha. In a series of posts shared on X, the “I’m the Drama” singer shared her first impression of Gaga’s new album, […]
Shinedown adds to its record number of No. 1s on Billboard’s Mainstream Rock Airplay chart, strutting to the top of the March 15-dated survey with “Dance, Kid, Dance.”
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The song becomes Shinedown’s milestone 20th leader on Mainstream Rock Airplay, which began in 1981. The Brent Smith-fronted rockers first reigned with “Save Me” in 2005. They have earned their two most recent rulers consecutively, as “Dance, Kid, Dance” follows the four-week rule of “A Symptom of Being Human” in January-February 2024.
All of the band’s No. 1s on the chart have been released on and promoted to radio by Atlantic Records.
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Most No. 1s, Mainstream Rock Airplay:20, Shinedown18, Three Days Grace15, Five Finger Death Punch14, Foo Fighters14, Metallica13, Godsmack13, Van Halen12, Disturbed12, Linkin Park
“Dance, Kid, Dance” is one of two Shinedown songs currently on the tally. “Three Six Five,” which was released concurrently with “Dance, Kid, Dance” on Jan. 24, reaches a new No. 38 high.
“Dance, Kid, Dance” also lifts 7-6 on the all-rock-format, audience-based Rock & Alternative Airplay chart with 3.3 million audience impressions (up 1%) in the week ending March 6, according to Luminate.
On the most recently published, multimetric Hot Hard Rock Songs chart (dated March 8, reflecting data Feb. 21-27), “Dance, Kid, Dance” ranked at No. 9, after it debuted at its No. 3 high (Feb. 8). In addition to its radio airplay, the song earned 344,000 official U.S. streams.
“Three Six Five,” meanwhile, is the lead radio single at other radio formats. It rises 17-16 on Adult Pop Airplay and holds at its No. 19 best on Alternative Airplay.
Both songs are the first tastes of new music from Shinedown since 2022’s Planet Zero. A new studio album, the band’s eighth, has not yet been announced.
All Billboard charts dated March 15 will update Tuesday, March 11 on Billboard.com.
Cash Cobain makes addictive music. Since he previewed “Trippin on a Yacht” on PlaqueBoyMax‘s stream earlier this year, the snippet has been all over TikTok, as has become a tradition when it comes to music he purposely teases on social media. And when he finally dropped the single, we included it on our Fresh Picks […]
j-hope is doing it all now that he’s completed his mandatory military service for South Korea. And as the BTS superstar is preparing to hit the road for his Hope on the Stage Tour, he’s sharing how serving his country gave him time to consider what’s ahead for him.
“I think the period of rest that naturally came with the situation actually became an opportunity for more exploration,” the global star told Rolling Stone in a new interview published Friday (March 7). “I found a lot of new inspiration and got to spend much time thinking about the future. I also started making plans for what I want to do once I complete my military service.”
What’s more, he added, time in the military helped shape him. “I still believe that experiences are invaluable. The thoughts I had during those times have become an inseparable part of me, nurturing and shaping who I am today,” he told the publication. “Ultimately, they have influenced the stories I tell, the music I aspire to create, my choreography and the overall aspects of my work, deepening my understanding of my own thoughts.”
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j-hope completed his time in uniform in October, and became the second member of BTS to finish his service. (Jin, who was first to start military duties, was discharged in June; the rest of the K-pop group — V, Suga, RM, Jimin and Jung Kook — are all expected to complete their service this year, with full group activities resuming after.) By January, j-hope was already teasing that not only was he releasing new solo music this year, but that he was hitting the road as well. After a series of shows in Seoul and late February and early March, he’ll be taking Hope on the Stage to Brooklyn, N.Y., for a pair of shows beginning on March 13, with the tour also making stops in Chicago, Los Angeles, Mexico City, Singapore, Bangkok and more before ending June 1 in Osaka, Japan.
As for that new music he teased? It was a new single titled “Sweet Dreams,” featuring Miguel, who j-hope told Rolling Stone he has “respected greatly” for a long time. Said the star of working with the R&B singer-songwriter, “We got in touch, and despite the challenges of it being around the holiday season, he was so kind and eager to collaborate. I remember sending him a personal text to thank him.”
The “Chicken Noodle Soup” singer also shared that his BTS bandmates have also had a chance to listen to his new track. “I played the song for all of the members. I made sure to share it with them when each of them was on their military leave, and I felt proud to be able to play it for them first,” he told the publication. “I was very happy that everyone liked it.”
Next up for j-hope is his solo debut performance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on Monday, March 10. Miguel will be appearing alongside the K-pop star.
This week, Billboard’s New Music Latin roundup and playlist — curated by Billboard Latin and Billboard Español editors — features fresh new music including collaborations between Oscar Maydon and Netón Vega’s Amigos? No.” and Kapo and Myke Towers’ “ILY.” Plus, Banda MS released its highly-anticipated album Edición Limitada. In another collab, Argentine rapper Tiago PZK teamed up with Teddy Swims for sometimes “Sometimes,” the […]
